Kelowna home owner - tips to prepare for a sale

Preparing your Kelowna home for sale requires a bit work of inside and out to make your home stand out infront of others. Following article "Clean Up, Cash In" prepared by Helen Turner/National Post offers some great tips to help get your home sold!

Long before a buyer signs on the line to purchase your home, you need to get them to come in the front door. The last thing you want is for them to take one look at the front of your home and drive straight on by.

"When they pull up in front of it, you want them to go 'Hey, wow, this looks good,' and want to go inside," says Laurin Jeffrey, an agent with Century 21 Regal Realty. "I've pulled up in front of houses and the outside looks beat up and rundown and have said, 'You know what, never mind,' and don't even go in."

It need not take much to turn a tired garden or front yard into a welcoming space that makes your home stand out from the listings crowd.

"Things like changing the house numbers, the external lighting, the mailbox -- those types of things can really make a significant impact," says Frank Turco, senior manager of trend and design at Home Depot.

Then there's the garden itself.

It's not difficult to figure out where the work is needed. Try "cutting back your shrubs and trees to allow sunlight to penetrate the windows, making sure no tree branches are rubbing against your roof or the side of your house, cutting your grass and edging the lawn for a tidier look," says Dane Caldwell, home stager and founder of Toronto's 2 Hounds Design. "Put some potted flowers around the entrance ... get rid of all those spider webs that have dead little bugs in them. Clean your windows and paint the trim around the front door and windows. That'll make a huge difference."

More extensive work on the garden needs careful consideration.

"Conservatively, landscaping can add 11% to 12% to the value of the home, but you have to consider the quality of the landscaping and the maintenance," says Ms. Caldwell. "I know of houses that haven't sold for a very long time because of the amount of landscaping that's gone into it. You can have an immaculate yard but it might actually scare people away ... because they know that in two or three years it's going to be overrun with weeds. They don't know what to do, or they have to pay somebody to come in and look after it."

Making what you have look great is key.

"If you've got tired-looking siding or bricks that are ageing, get out a power washer -- you can even rent one," says Mr. Turco. "Give [everything] a good spraying; clean your windows. Cleaning is just one of those things that gives a whole new look and feel to any space, whether it be inside or outside."

Mr. Jeffrey says that because gardens are so subjective, it is difficult to put an exact value on them.

"If you have a good garden or no garden, you're going to be fairly similar. It's the scruffy garden that's going to take away value," says Mr. Jeffrey. "I've got a client right now who would prefer nothing in the garden because he doesn't want the hassle of having to take care of it."

Even the small outside space offered by a condo balcony can help or hinder a sale.

"If you've got a balcony and you put down some nice wood flooring, a nice little patio set out there and a couple of plants, it looks inviting -- it looks like somewhere you'd want to spend some time," says Mr. Jeffrey. "If there's one beat-up chair and a cup with a handful of cigarette butts in it, it's not appealing."

As with a backyard garden, a balcony can make one condo stand out from another.

"Bring the outdoors in by putting balcony boxes overflowing with flowers and vines, maybe some scented flowers or even herbs so that, if they do go out, you've got a nice pretty smell," says Ms. Caldwell. "Having a balcony just implicitly increases the value anyway because [there's] a bit of outdoor space."


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Contact june@juneconway.com OR 250.317.3136
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